“Not true mates? How? What?” she breathed out after he was finished, attempting to process that one of their oldest friends had managed to keep something so significant from them for so long. Her face was filled with compassion when she met her mate’s eyes. “Daciana must have been so lonely. Even though she loved Stefan and he loved her, there would have been a hole in her that was never able to be filled. I wish she would have let me be there for her.”

Anghel stroked her cheek gently. His mate was an Alpha, but she was also very empathetic to those she loved and claimed as hers. To her, Daciana had been like a sister, and Eveline felt the loss as if she were one of their own pack.

“I am glad I told you,” he admitted. “It was a burden I could not have carried on my own.”

“That is why we have each other.” She smiled up at him through tear filled eyes. “As Alpha there are some things you cannot share with the pack―to keep them safe and to keep others safe. Others might not understand that, but I do. And even if I did not agree with you, I will always choose you.”

“Thank you, Luna. You honor me. Perhaps, you could honor our old friends as well and visit Vasile. I am sure he would welcome your presence. He has been visiting with his pack, making sure they feel secure and that there are none who wish to challenge him. But he should be home soon.”

“What has he been telling them?”

“A variation of the truth but very watered down. We are the only others people who know this secret and because of that he should be fine. They have no reason to question his leadership over the reason of his parent’s deaths.”

“And it will stay that way,” she agreed.

Emilian, Beta of the Western Romania pack, stood several feet away from the library door where his Alphas sat discussing some very interesting news. He just happened upon the conversation, lucky for him, and now he finally had the ammunition he needed to bring the Eastern Romania pack under new leadership. The Lupeis had been in control for far too long and he had been overlooked in his own pack for more years than he could count. He would never be able to take over his own pack. They were too loyal to Anghel. And until this information he would have never been able to take the Eastern pack either because of their loyalty to Stefan. There had been a few who had begun to wonder at Stefan’s sanity. He was an old, old wolf and sometimes, true mate or not, old wolves would begin to slip. There were grumblings over the state of the outer villages not being given the same financial help as the ones closer to the castle. In a pack it is the Alpha’s job to make sure everyone is getting what they need and that none are being overlooked. Hungry wolves, desperate wolves, or wolves not controlled are dangerous to everyone.

He smiled to himself as he considered his good fortune. He was no fool. He knew he could not beat Vasile in a challenge but with this information he would not have to. Vasile's pack would rise against him with males challenging him not just daily but hourly. No wolf, no matter how powerful,could withstand such an attack. Once Vasile was worn down and nearly broken, Emilian would finish him and the pack would be his.

It was early afternoon by the time Alina and Vasile made it to her home. She knew that while she and Vasile had been sitting by the river, her father would have headed home to check on Georgeta. Like most males he did not leave his mate alone for long. She was on edge, mostly because Vasile was on edge, and it was flowing down through their bond into her. She knew she had to stay calm. If her emotions got out of control, it would only feed Vasile’s already volatile state. She took slow breaths as they walked up to the door of her home and stepped inside.

“Father,” Alina called. Petre came striding out of the only bedroom in the cottage. He smiled when he saw her, but it was wiped clean when his eyes jumped to Vasile. “Vasile would like to speak with you.”

Petre motioned to the door behind them. “Could we have a seat outside? My mate is lying down; she has been working herself ragged and needs to rest.”

Vasile nodded. “That will be remedied,” he reminded Petre.

“Of course, Alpha, and we appreciate your desire to see our pack thrive.”

Once outside they had taken up seats on some large tree stumps that her father had arranged in a circle so that they and others of the pack could come and spend time with one another. Sometimes they would have a fire if the conversation lasted into the night. Alina had so many good memories of their circle of stumps, and yet, as she sat there now, those memories were the furthest thing from her mind. She had started for her usual spot which was on the left side of her father, purely out of habit, but Vasile had caught her wrist and tugged her to a stump next to the one he chose. It was directly across from where her father now sat.

“Obviously, from the happenings at the home of Sain and Theris you know that Alina is my true mate,” Vasile began.

Her father nodded but he did not add anything. She knew his tactics well. He would let a person say their peace and then make them wait while he processed it. In the meantime, they would be squirming under his scrutinized stare. It made the one waiting for him to respond think that maybe what they had said did not make sense, or perhaps they were wrong. Slowly they began to second guess themselves, and if her father had a different point of view, by the time he spoke they had already begun to agree with him.

“Alina and I have been discussing the uniqueness of our situation since she is not of age. It is unusual, though not unheard of, for the bond to appear between true mates when one or both of them are fairly young. The difficulty of the situation obviously comes when the male is mature and ready to take his mate, but the female is not.” He glanced at her and his eyes were a tad too bright for her liking. She reached out and took his hand hoping that her touch would help calm him. When he looked back at her father, she did not take her eyes off of him as if her gaze could hold him in place and keep his wolf tame.